Medieval Sourcebook:The Legends & Poetry of The Turks,selections
[Horne Introduction]
Turkish literature is of a less advanced character than that of most of the Semiticliteratures from which it is sprung. An epigrammatic summary of the Turkish character has said that every fourth word of Turkish is Arabic, every third idea Persian, and everysecond impulse Mohammedan. This, while not seeming to leave much of the originalTurk, is perhaps not an unfair estimate of the extent of the Turks' indebtedness to theearlier races and religion upon which their civilization is built. The Ottoman Turks, that is, the Turks who founded the present Turkish Empire, were a Tartar or Turanian tribe from Central Asia who adopted the Mohammedan faith and began their conquest of the Mohammedan world about the year 1300. They then possessed legends or childish talesof their own which still survive; and these are still told among the mass of the people withsimple faith. One or two of these are given here, to show the natural human character of the race. The Turks next turned, in literature, to poetry. Persian Mohammedan poetrywas then at its best; and the Turks imitated, but scarcely improved upon, its forms. Sogreat, indeed, became the Turkish admiration for poetry that almost every TurkishSultan, from the year fourteen hundred down to the present, has written poetry.Turkish poetry has chiefly followed the Arabic fashion of expending itself upon languagerather than upon thought. We are told that when the first Turkish epic poet Ahmedi presented to Sultan Bajazet's son his long epic history of Alexander the Great, the princerebuked the poet's years of labor, saying that one tiny, perfectly polished poem would have been worth more than all the epics. Hence it is chiefly to the polishing of tiny poemsthat the poetic genius of the Turks has been applied. They have a favorite form called the"gazel," which might be likened to our English sonnet, except that the gazel is by far more intricate. It is, in fact, compared by the Turks to a flower with its petals constantlyoverlapping, forming a circle, and ending at the point where they began. In rhyme, for instance, the gazel opens with a rhyming couplet, and then through the whole poem thesecond line of each couplet repeats this opening rhyme.We have tried to give the chief Turkish poets in somewhat chronological order, beginningwith their first poet
Ashiq
, who died in 1332 and whose very name is forgotten, sinceashiq means merely "the lover." In other words, Turkish poetry begins with the passion of an unknown lover, not apparently for woman, but for life and God. The collected poemsof Ashiq are called a "divan," the usual Persian and Turkish word for such collections;
but very little of the divan of Ashiq has survived. Among Turkish epic poets, the earliest is
Ahmedi
(died 1412), who wrote the
Book of Alexander the Great
. The first romantic songis that of
Sheykhi
(1426) on the loves of the maiden Shireen. The first religious epic isthat of
Yaziji-Oglu
(1449), called the
Book of Mohammed
. These, then, were the earlysingers. Of poets accounted of the highest rank, the earliest was
Nejati
(1508). Lamii wasthe scholar poet, a dervish or monk who delved into the older Persian literature and drewhis themes perhaps from ancient Zoroastrian tales. He is usually named as the second greatest of Turkish poets. Gazali, Buzuli, and Nabi were also noted singers of thesixteenth century, which was the great age of the Turkish Empire, both in literature and in military glory.Of the two poetesses on our list,
Mihri
has been called the Turkish Sappho. Yet as the lifeof a Turkish woman of rank is carefully secluded, no scandal ever attached to her personal life. Her poems are mere dreams of fancy.
Zeyneb
was equally honored, a ladyof high rank and a student of the Persian and Arabic poets. All other singers, however, are accounted by the Turks inferior to the great lyric poet
Baqi
(1526-1600). Baqi was at first a saddler, but he studied law and rose to the highest legal position of the empire. Poetry was the avocation of the great lawyer's leisure, and it won him the admiring friendship of the four successive Sultans who reigned during hislife. The very name Baqi means " that which lasts," or " the enduring," so it has been frequently punned upon. The poet himself used a seal with a Persian couplet, "Fleeting isthe world, and without faith God alone endures (or, Baqi alone is god); all else is fleeting."
[Halsall Note]
Horne's early 20th century translations are useful to have online, but note that hisintroductions are resolutely "orientalist" in tone, even when they are not downright insulting. In the texts below much comes through, but much is supressed - for instance thehomosexual object of many love poems.
Contents
•
The Divan of the Lover
--- the oldest Turkish poem
•
The Book of Alexander the Great
--- Ahmedi
•
The Loves of Shirin ---
Sheykhi
•
The Book of Mohammed: The Creation of Paradise ---
Yaziji-Oglu
•
Ruba'i ---
Sultan Murad II
(r. 1421-1451)
•
Gazel ---
Sultan Mohammed II
(r. 1451-1481)
•
Fragment of a Gazel ---
Sultan Mohammed II
•
Gazel --
Sultan Mohammed II
•
Gazel ---
Prince Jem
(1481)
•
Fragment ---
Prinse Jem
•
Gazel ---
Sultan Selim I
(r. 1512-1520)
•
Gazel ---
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
(r. 1520-1566)
•
Gazel ---
Prince Mustafa
•
Gazel ---
Sultan Selim II
(r. 1566-1574).
•
Gazel ---
Sultan Selim II
•
Gazel ---
Sultan Osman II
(r. 1617-1623)
•
To Sultan Murad IV ---
Hafiz Pasha
•
In Reply To The Preceding ---
Sultan Murad IV
(r. 1623-1640)
•
Lugaz ---
Sultan Murad IV
•
Munajat ---
Sultan Mustafa II
(r. 1695-1703)
•
Gazel ---
Zeyneb
•
Gazel ---
Mihri
•
Gazel ---
Mihri
•
From His Spring Qasida ---
Nejati
•
From His Qasida On The Accession Of Sultan Bayezid II ---
Nejati
•
Gazel ---
Nejati
•
Ruba'is ---
Nejati
•
On Autumn ---
Lami'i
•
On Spring ---
Lami'i
•
Rose Time ---
Lami'i
•
From An Elegy On Iskender Chelebi ---
Gazali
•
Fragment ---
Gazali
•
Gazel ---
Fuzuli
•
Gazel ---
Fuzuli
•
Gazel ---
Fuzuli
•
Gazel ---
Fuzuli
•
Museddes ---
Fuzuli
•
Mukhammes ---
Fuzuli
•
From Leyli And Mejnun ---
Fuzuli
•
Mejnun Addresses Nevfil ---
Fuzuli
•
Mejnun's Gazel ---
Fuzuli
•
Zeyd's Vision ---
Fuzuli
•
Mukhammes ---
Nabi
•
Gazel ---
Nabi
•
A Qaisda On Sultan Suleiman ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
On Autumn ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Gazel ---
Baqi
•
Elegy On Sultan Suleiman I ---
Baqi
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The Legends & Poetry of the Turks, Selections
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